Take a Hurricane Seriously - Prepare for the before, during and after it Strikes

The start of every hurricane season refreshes memories of my worst hurricane experience. In all, I have witnessed three major storms but the one I will never forget is Hugo in 1989.

As a broadcaster, for years I had followed the progress of Atlantic hurricanes but nothing had prepared me for the onslaught of Hugo on Montserrat (16˚ 12’ North 62˚ 12 West).

Hugo touched down on the island 61 years after the hurricane of 1928. Before 1928, the island was also hit in 1924 and 1899. But memories of the impact and effects of these storms which came out in radio documentaries that I produced didn’t even come close to alerting me for the hammering the island came under from Hugo. For instance survivors of the three hurricanes spoke of escaping during the storm from one damaged house to another and about sheltering under boulders. Some even talked about calling out to neighbours in the height of the storm. My first hurricane experience was very different.

I followed Hugo as it progressed from a tropical depression to a storm to a hurricane and to a category 5 hurricane. By then it was on course for Montserrat with an ETA of 16 September. The day opened fine and bright. The radio station I managed and the other two radio stations and a television station on the island stepped up forecasts and alerts. I rushed to prepare the family. First a special trip to the supermarket and hardware. Back home, I secured windows etc. My wife was on holiday in the US. I had our two kids, a nephew and my mother-in-law to care for. I stocked our downstairs flat where the family had already decided we would ride out a hurricane. A few passing showers during the day would not have bothered anyone except that a hurricane was on the way. By evening the family moved into the flat and all was set when I left for work at the radio station. Ours was the last station on the air. I remember talking to a weather forecaster at VC international in Antigua at around midnight. I asked him; where is the hurricane? This was his chilling response: We are experiencing 75 M.P.H. winds here but in the next two hours you will have gusts of up to 200 M.P.H I recorded his report, went into the studio passed the tape to the presenter. “Put this on and let us get out of here,” I said, “this is not one for a blow by blow.’ Public electricity had been shut off for hours and outside was pitch black. We shut down the station, switched off our stand-by generator and headed home in different directions.

Hugo was already in the area. I met fallen trees on the way. After a few forced diversions I finally arrived home. I was then in my 30’s and this was going to be my first hurricane experience. Based on what I had learnt in the documentaries mentioned earlier, for me it was like come on, bring on the hurricane. I had no fear about our house standing up to anything it threw at us. I also thought it would take just a couple of hours at most to clear the island. Hour after hour came and went. Gust after gust of wind approached like a freight train and then hit our house like a bulldozer. Cracking aluminium windows on the leeward side I saw the rain. It came at the house flat and straight. The area appeared covered by a blue flame. The wind rumbled on forever (I reckon it must have been at least 15 hours) at a sustained 160 M.P.H. with gusts of up to over 200 M.P.H. It was well past midday Sunday when still in lashing rain the wind eased to tropical storm force.

Thank goodness the roof of my house had weathered the worst. But around us scores of roofs were simply ripped off. Nearby, a recently built church was demolished. Lush woods and grasses in Hills and mountains around us were reduced to cinders. Every family had a story to tell. Some spoke of how they had clung to life in cupboards, in bathrooms and even in kitchen units. I can think of a horse shoe nail which I wish I had kept. In the height of the storm an outside door to our downstairs flat blew open. Then is when I realized that my nails and tools were upstairs. My mother-in-law came to the rescue with a nail – a slim horse shoe nail. It helped me to secure the door and maybe spared us the worst. I can only say thank God for a horse shoe nail.

I also lived through Hurricane Luis, Category 4 and Georges, Category 3 in Antigua in 1995 and 1998. I won’t forget Georges because I walked in the calm of its eye and Hugo of course, for its brute force and destruction.
Take my advice, in 2007, if a hurricane threatens your area, stock up, bar up. Prepare for the before, during and after it strikes.